Borderlands 4 just got a release date change - and the GTA VI conspiracy theories have started

We are going to know a heck of a lot more about Borderlands 4 within hours, as PlayStation has announced a big gameplay deep dive on the game following its release date shift.

2K Games did have Borderlands 4 pencilled in for September 23, but this has been brought forward to September 12.

This has caused all kinds of, frankly partly warranted, speculation about when Grand Theft Auto VI might arrive. Both games are published by 2K, so if anyone knows when GTA 6 is really coming out aside from developer Rockstar, 2K does.

The publisher also has Mafia: The Old Country out on August 8, suggesting to us October may be the earliest GTA 6 will land. 2K Games's official line at present is the release date sits within the "fall" season.

But today we’re here for the would-be Borderlands 4 fans, and they get to dine out tonight.

At 10pm UK time on April 30, PlayStation’s YouTube channel will host a “State of Play deep dive” on the game hosted by Borderlands 4’s creative director, Graeme Timmins, and senior producer Anthony Nicholson. You can check it out here:

It’s been tagged the “deepest ever look” at the game, and promises to lift the lid on a quartet of lead characters, new weapons, “traversal mechanics” and how the game’s “seamless” environment looks and operates.

“Break free from the oppressive Timekeeper, a ruthless dictator who dominates the masses from on high,” reads the official blurb.

“Now, a world-altering catastrophe threatens his perfect Order, unleashing mayhem across the planet.”

Back in February we got to see a frenetic trailer for the game that showed a rapid-fire series of action scenes, to accompany the original release date announcement. We expect this latest preview to be a lot calmer and more measured, if no less action-packed:

The new release date means Borderlands will arrive almost exactly six years after the last main line entry in the series. Borderlands 3 was released on September 13, 2019.

It went on to sell somewhere in the ballpark of 18 million copies. But despite that success, we’ve only had some spin-off games since, like the brilliant Tales of the Borderlands. And, well, the less said about the 2024 Borderlands movie, the better.

The big question: is the Borderlands audience still there? How many folks actually tune into tonight’s 10PM stream may give us some idea.

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